Monday, April 17, 2017

What's your problem Veterans Affairs!?

I totally get that the VA is overwhelmed and understaffed etc. I understand that some things are out of their control. But there is SO MUCH that IS in their control and SO MUCH that they could be doing far better. The staff who are filled with hate and discontent far outweigh the good staff, that alone is a huge issue.

Why has the care that my husband has received at 2 of our local VA facilities been so horrible? Why have we had issues with multiple providers leaving his medical record with poorly written, incorrect and incomplete notes from visits? Why must every single thing be a fight?

Our latest adventure in VA hell has been trying to get a Seizure Helmet for my husband. Early February we were finally sent over to OT to have one ordered. After roughly 5 weeks I started asking questions about why it hadn't arrived. Of course, I couldn't get a hold of anyone from Prosthetics in Gainesville. I finally spoke to my husband's case manager and he started asking questions. He found out that the helmet was actually back ordered and no one bothered to tell me or do anything about it, despite it being "expedited". He was told that a new helmet was being ordered and expedited through another vendor. More time went by and I started asking questions again. My husband's Wounded Warrior Safe Harbor contact (They have done a lot of failing too. That's a story for another day) started making calls for me, because gain, I can't get a hold of anyone. She was told that the Helmet was ordered and would arrive to us the next day (April 12th). So between the time that the case manager talked to them and the time the wounded warrior person talked to them, they had never actually ordered it. The helmet never showed up. Today, since my husband had an appointment at the Gainesville VA anyway, I decided that we should stop into prosthetics to ask what was going on. The guy came back after being gone a while to let us know that there is no record of the helmet being ordered... so it would be ordered today, sent overnight and hopefully get to us either tomorrow or Wednesday. WHAT THE HELL Y'ALL!? All i'm asking for here is a freaking seizure helmet. I just want to protect my husband's head a little bit when he's having seizures. He has hit his head so many times. He needs this. I'm not asking for something crazy here.

Just to shed more light on the incredibly poor attitude of the staff as a whole. While we waited for the guy helping us, the woman at the front desk as well as another man in the back, were talking about a patient. She said "He started trying to tell me his story, but honestly, I ignored him." and the other guy there was saying that the guy wasn't owed special shoes even though he thinks he was, bad mouthed him etc. and he tossed a paper pertaining to the guy carelessly, not caring where it fell. This is a problem! They need people to care about the patients!

I also told them that every single time I tried calling there I would get the after hours messaging system, regardless of what time of day it was and that I had left several messages with no return phone calls. They told me that the phones are messed up.... WHY are the phones messed up Gainesville, FL VA??? WHY aren't people getting calls back? Why is it so hard to get my husband a seizure helmet!? I'm not asking for anything crazy.... just a seizure helmet. This is a case of people not doing their job! This is a situation that is 100% avoidable. This is just one of many issues we are having with the VA. It's shameful and unnecessary.

I would also like to know why we must go into the ER when my husband needs to see his PCM for an appointment other than his yearly follow-up. Why can't an appointment be easily made when he needs to be seen? Why are we instructed that we need to go to the ER in order to have his PCM see him? That is ridiculous and takes away from real emergencies in the emergency department! The system needs a massive overhaul.

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TBI

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*The two who started it all*

Hello There! My name is Sarah and I am the wife and full time Caregiver to my Disabled Veteran husband Tony. We have 6 awesome children together. After my husband's last brain injury in 2014, our life was flipped upside down and we have been rebuilding within our new normal ever since. Tony's TBI has left him fully disabled with a long list of brain injury related conditions and his 18 years of military service has left him with several more, including PTSD. Follow us on our journey, ride this roller coaster with us and maybe learn some things along the way!